Juniper flowers are of two kinds, and they usually grow on separate trees, though sometimes you may find both kinds on separate branches of the same tree. The stamen flowers (3) are in full bloom in May, and you will find them growing in small scaly catkins close to the foot of the leaf where it joins the stem. The heads of the stamens stand like a row of small yellow beads along the edge of each scale, and when they are ripe the beads burst and the leaves around are covered with their fine yellow powder.
The seed flowers (4) also grow at the foot of the leaves, and at first you might mistake them for young buds. They have thicker and more fleshy scales than those of the stamen catkins, and after the yellow stamen dust is blown by the wind on to their seed-vessels the upper scales grow into a green berry (5). These green berries remain in the tree all through the winter, and the following summer they change into a deep purplish black. Each berry has a soft grey bloom all over it, like the bloom on a grape.
These berries are very bitter to taste, but are not poisonous; in some illnesses country people use them successfully as a medicine.
Many are the uses of the Juniper, and in olden days it was highly valued.
THE LARCH
1. Larch Tree2. Leaf Tufts3. Stamen Catkins
4. Seed Catkins5. Young Cone6. Ripe Cone
In Sweden the berries are eaten to breakfast; sometimes they are roasted and ground into coffee.